Atlas of Unknowns [Deckle Edge] [Hardcover]

Tania James (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 21, 2009

An utterly irresistible first novel: The story of two sisters, the yearning to disappear into another country, and the powerful desire to return to the known world. Linno is a gifted artist, despite a childhood accident that has left her badly maimed, and Anju is one of Kerala’s most promising students. Both girls dream of coming to the United States, but it is Anju who wins a scholarship to a prestigious school in New York. She seizes it, even though it means lying and betraying her sister. When her lie is discovered, Anju disappears. Back in Kerala, Linno is undergoing a transformation of her own. But when she learns of Anju’s disappearance, Linno strikes out farther still, with a scheme to procure a visa so that she can come to America to look for her sister and save them both.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Book Description
A poignant, funny, blazingly original debut novel about sisterhood, the tantalizing dream of America, and the secret histories and hilarious eccentricities of families everywhere.

In the wake of their mother’s mysterious death, Linno and Anju are raised in Kerala by their father, Melvin, a reluctant Christian prone to bouts of dyspepsia, and their grandmother, the superstitious and strong-willed Ammachi. When Anju wins a scholarship to a prestigious school in America, she seizes the opportunity, even though it means betraying her sister. In New York, Anju is plunged into the elite world of her Hindu American host family, led by a well-known television personality and her fiendishly ambitious son, a Princeton drop out determined to make a documentary about Anju’s life. But when Anju finds herself ensnared by her own lies, she runs away and lands a job as a bikini waxer in a Queens beauty salon.

Meanwhile, back in Kerala, Linno is undergoing a transformation of her own, rejecting the wealthy blind suitor with whom her father had sought to arrange her marriage and using her artistic gifts as a springboard to entrepreneurial success. When Anju goes missing, Linno strikes out farther still, with a scheme to procure a visa so that she can travel to America to search for her vanished sister.

The convergence of their journeys—toward each other, toward America, toward a new understanding of self and country, and toward a heartbreaking mystery long buried in their shared past—brings to life a predicament that is at once modern and timeless: the hunger for independence and the longing for home; the need to preserve the past and the yearning to break away from it. Tania James combines the gifts of an old-fashioned storyteller—engrossing drama, flawless control of plot, beautifully drawn characters, surprises around every turn—with a voice that is fresh and funny and powerfully alive with the dilemmas of modern life. She brings grace, humor, deep feeling, and the command of a born novelist to this marvelous debut.

About the Author

Tania James was raised in Louisville, Kentucky, and is a graduate of Harvard and Columbia universities. She has published her work in One Story and The New York Times. She lives in New York City.

Exclusive Essay: Tania James on Sisterhood and Atlas of Unknowns

This book is primarily about sisters, a subject I know something about, as I have two, an older and a younger. For a lengthy stretch of childhood, the Older and I attended the Harold Roberts School of Dance, where we were packaged as a tap duet, and while other groups boasted sexy titles--The Jazzettes, for example, or Spice--my sister and I bore a name as dull and durable as our school shoes. We were simply, lamely, The James Sisters.

The James Sisters began their tenure at the ages of 7 and 9. I spent many of those youngest years as a pudgy counterpart to the Older (or, you could say, she was my lanky counterpart), and the visual effect, in pictures, evokes Abbott and Costello, or Cee-lo and Dangermouse, but in leotards and feathers. We were, however, serious about tap dance. Several times a week, we spun, flapped, and travel-backed across a linoleum patch of floor in our basement, smacking into walls, smiling blindly. Inevitably, the practice would end in a fight, and the Older would storm away and flop into a nearby armchair while I massaged my blisters and fantasized about a tapless adulthood.

I think that the Older resented being lumped with me, moreso than I did. But we were also aware that there existed some sort of mysterious syncretism to the styles in which we danced, and the way we could, without the aid of music, fall into exactly the same rhythms and gestures. At our best, when we performed, our four shoes emitted the sounds of a single pair, which seemed a genetic asset that our competitors lacked. Only once did we each try to dance a solo piece, but neither of us turned out to be the Paul Simon we had presumed ourselves to be. We were two Garfunkels, and practicing alone was boring. So we continued with our duets and fights, repelled and drawn back again and again, for years.

My apologies if I have given the impression that this novel has anything to do with tap dance. It does not. But in the attempt to sort through the soup of influences that fed this story, a particular image--my sister and I dancing and fighting in a cold basement--floated to the surface. Of course, I can point to other influences, both literary and non-literary, ones whose connection to my novel I can better articulate, like the statue of a martyred saint holding his own head, or a Malayalam film star, or my grandmothers who perpetually wear white, or a few seconds of the documentary Sherman’s March, wherein a woman complains to the filmmaker about his constant filming: “Could you turn it off? This is important. This is not art, this is life!” And then there are the influences that have exercised their hold on my imagination in invisible ways, like the fear of facing the infinite dark of the audience, and the relief of taking my sister’s sweaty hand for a bow. I can’t say that my life is art, but life has offered a steady and generous stream from which to make it.

From Publishers Weekly

In this perfectly adequate tale of bicontinental love, betrayal and secrets, sisters Anju and Linno Vallara live in Kerala, India, raised by their father after their mother's apparent suicide. Crippled Linno establishes herself as a talented artist, a skill Anju ruthlessly claims as her own, passing off Linno's paintings as hers to win a scholarship to study art in New York. When Anju's dishonesty is eventually exposed, her future crumbles and she runs away, surviving only due to her friendship with Bird, a stranger who carries a key to their mother's mysterious past. Meanwhile, Linno, who once resigned herself to being her family's servant, has built a career and, despite her sister's betrayal, resolves to find Anju and bring her home. As that reunion looms, layers of lies and secrets are exposed until the reader, if not the sisters, glimpses the tangle of honesty and loyalties underpinning the story. James paints Kerala and immigrant New York with identical depth and ease, and the story is a readable balance of well-crafted plot and artful emotion. (Apr.)
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Knopf (April 21, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 030726890X
• ISBN-13: 978-0307268907
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 1.3 x 9.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #993,616 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Remarkable Debut Novel by Tania James, May 2, 2009

By 

M. S. Seyal (Prospect, KY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Atlas of Unknowns (Hardcover)

Tania James is a skilled and gifted story teller whose debut novel is a tour de force. A second generation Indian American with impeccable credentials from Harvard & Columbia Universities, she has produced a literary gem in the form of "Atlas of Unknowns." The novel is set in both Kerala in south India (her parent's native place) and the United States and the main characters are two sisters- Anju & Linno who live with their father-Melvin and their strong-willed grandmother, lovingly called "Ammachi". Their mother had committed suicide. Anju manages to get a scholarship to come to the fabulous land called the United States of America. Regrettably,unbeknownst to the American sponsor, the invitation to enroll in a high school in New York was granted under false pretense of Anju claiming Linno's artistic creations as her own. Linno is a hand amputee due to a firecracker freakish accident but still produces beautiful drawings and sketches. Anju goes through the usual travails of a new immigrant and does splendidly well academically. The truth finally comes out when she is unable to produce any original artistc creations of her own despite her feigning some illness. Thoroughly ashamed and mortified, she quickly absconds from school, leaving her fabulously wealthy and americanized host family of Indian extraction and losing contact with her family in India. Linno, in the meanwhile, has found a job as a brilliant artist and becomes a graphic and technical designer of Hallmark-variety cards and invitations. She tries to procure visa to come to the United States to search for her lost sister. Rohit, the quirky son of the Indian host family eventually catches up with Anju in the predominantly Indian enclave of Jackson Heights in New York where through the generosity of her boarder by the name of Bird, she has now ensconced herself as a bikini waxer. Rohit is a Princeton dropout and is a self-described documentarian who wishes to document the paiful and lengthy trials and tribulations of Anju, the new immigrant, on her path to get permant resident status, thereby paving the way for his own artistic and jounalistic fame.
Tania James weaves a sinuous yet compelling and engrossing story by introducing a cadre of interesting characters in India and America. With superb prose, she narrates a beautiful story that takes many unusual turns and twists and keeps the reader firmly engaged. The book is a page turner and the evocative tale of this lower middle class Indian family that straddles the two continents is gripping. I can hardly wait for her planned book of stories set in Louisville, Kentucky where she was raised.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Quest For Identity, July 24, 2009

By 

Jill I. Shtulman (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Atlas of Unknowns (Hardcover)

This is a novel set in Kerala, India -- and in Queens, New York -- about a family torn apart by betrayal and separated both geographically and by life's choices. It was a natural choice for me: lately, I've been entranced by literature written by Indian-Americans and Pakistani-Americans. The lushness of the writing and the soaring of imagination has resonated with me. And I also took note of the many laudatory reviews.

As a result, I wanted to love this book while in the end, I merely liked it. That puts me at odds with the literary community but that's the thing about reading: it's very individual.

A reprise of the plot: After their mother's mysterious death, two sisters -- Linno and Anju --are raised by their loving father. The two quickly set off on different tracks, largely as a result of Anju's betrayal. Disfigured Linno stays behind, using her artistic gifts to forge a career and a name for herself, rejecting marriage and compromises. Anju wins a scholarship to a very elite American school, which she enters based on a lie that is uncovered. She then takes up residence with a woman who shows more than a passing interest in her and who may hold the key to the past.

The novel is largely about the never-ending quest for identity: who are we? Where do we belong? How do we reconcile the yearning for home with the drive for adventure? What role does family play in our lives when we reinvent ourselves? All are worthy questions.

For me, much of the novel was told, not felt. There is a certain something -- perhaps the "soul" of the novel -- that just seems to be missing. Some of the plot twists (don't want to deliver spoilers) seem a little too pat, a little too well-plotted. One of the key characters -- the ambitious son of Anju's host family in America -- is annoyingly one-dimensional. Tania James can definitely write, and I predict good things for her in the future. But I cannot embrace this novel as fervently as other reviewers.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars interesting family drama, April 26, 2009

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Atlas of Unknowns (Hardcover)

In Kerala, India, their father Melvin with help form his mother raises his two daughters Anju and Linno Vallara when his wife and their mother committed suicide. Crippled Linno turns to painting and proves to be a talented artist. However, Anju steals the work as hers and obtains an art scholarship in New York while the real painter remains behind expecting to be a servant to her father for life.

However, Anju's deception collapses when she shows not one iota of talent. Disgraced, she flees with her only friend being Bird, who is connected in an enigmatic way to her late mom. While Anju hides from her family, Linno becomes an artist of renown. She has forgiven her sibling and wants her to come home.

This is an interesting family drama that vividly compares life in India with immigrants in New York. The sisters are fascinating as opposites in personalities yet in spite of deception and betrayal; there remains a flicker of sibling loyalty. Tania James provides a deep look at two sisters whose conflicting dreams has divided and united them in the past, but where will it take them if Linno pulls off the reunion has the sibs and readers wondering.

Harriet Klausner